i'm a lucky girl!

sometimes matt needs to wear a hard hat at work.

a couple weeks ago someone stole his hard hat and matt was not impressed.

today i saw his new hard hat...

oh matt!

today i found myself baking and wearing a baby bjorn... at the same time.

what have i become?!

here are a few random pictures.

we went to the sevier county fair 2 weekends ago.

i went to it thinking it would be like the calgary stampede...

it wasn't!

it was very small.

but it was perfect for chet - he got to see some animals, eat some cotton candy, and go on a train ride.

one of my favorite parts was the toddler beauty pageant. it was just like 'toddlers and tiaras'!

"and the winner for best cheeks in the 19-24 month category is..."

haha oh my!

this last weekend we thought it would be fun to play in the canal.

unfortunately, chet slipped on the muddy banks and fell into the water right off the bat, so he wasn't very happy.
and then matt found a sick creature in the mud, so i wasn't really too excited to get in the water either.
soo... it wasn't the great family outing we had pictured. but it is a good memory :)

take a close look at holden... notice anything different?

no oxygen tube!

we think he looks like a new kid without that dang tube. we love it.

holden isn't totally done with the oxygen yet - he still has it at night - but life still seems so much easier now.

how exciting!

holden is now 7 weeks old and 7lbs 2oz.

the lady that lives below us knocked on our door, when we first moved in, to introduce herself and find out if we were expecting a boy or girl.

she explained that she likes to make baby blankets and she needed to know if our baby would need a blue or a pink one.

i had never talked to her before that, and i have never seen her again until 2 nights ago when she came up to our apartment with a beautiful crocheted blanket.. and a matching outfit to go with it.

i was shocked.

i honestly didn't think she would actually make us a blanket and, if she did, i didn't expect it to be so nice.

she is seriously talented.

and she is so thoughtful too. i mean, she doesn't even know us. at all!

for some odd reason, chet was fascinated by the outfit, and asked if he could wear it.

the outfit is kinda funny, so we were more then happy to have him put it on!

chet felt very special in it and refused to take it off. we were dying laughing.

what a goof!

here are some random pictures of chet from my phone.

1- bike riding. 2 - helping make dinner. 3 - morning cartoons. 4 - rain boots at walmart 5 - timeout. 6 - on a walk.

we celebrated our 5th anniversary on friday.

it wasn't anything super special - like no one has contacted us about making a romantic movie based on our night - but we liked it.

perhaps it was the fact that chet and holden were there celebrating with us that made it less romantic then past years!

we just ordered some takeout and then played outside with our boys. it was nice.

i can't believe we have been married 5 whole years. it's nuts. i feel old.

year one.

year two.

year three.

year four.

year five.

[we used photobooth to take this years picture.

it took several attempts because the computer snaps the sequence of 4 photos sooo fast!

it was very entertaining.]

today is holden's dute date.

holden should just be arriving.

but, instead, we have spent the past 6.5 weeks getting to know our little friend.

and, i gotta say, he is lovely.
his wrinkly forehead is especially lovable. it's just like his dads!

happy due date holden!
[and happy 5 year anniversary to matt and i.]

i like the weather in richfield. i have been spoiled this summer.

i am so sad that winter will come - even if it isn't for several more months.

i loathe winter.

and, after such a lovely summer, i have a feeling this winter is going to seem extra sad.

thanks for treating me so well this summer, richfield. keep up the good work!

we only have 25 more sleeps here in richfield :(

but in 25 sleeps we get to go visit calgary :)

we haven't been back there since december so we are very excited.

chet likes wearing his "wain boots" lately.

he looks like such a goon trying to walk in them!

[i wish this picture was't blurry.. but it is]

we were trying to teach chet to say, "no way, jose!"

but instead he says, "no way, horse-y!"

it's cute.

chet's speech gets better everyday. it is insane.

i love that we can have simple conversations with him now.

it is fun to finally get a glimpse of what goes through that silly little head of his.

after dinner last night, matt and i had the following conversation:

pam: i like it when you actually eat my meals. it makes me happy.

matt: this meal wasn't even that hard to eat.. and that makes me happy.

how embarrassing!

the last weekend that we were up in provo, my sister and her family were traveling from calgary to boise.

my sister is moving to texas right away and we honestly don't know the next time we will get to see each other.

so, being the thoughtful sister that she is, she made a big ol' detour down to provo on her way to boise so that we could hang out and so she could meet holden.

**thank you april & ben!**

it was so much fun to play with the hughes family that weekend.

it was also really fun to show off holden to them because we haven't had many people around to show him off to.

we took the silly hughes kids to kangaroo zoo - it is a warehouse full of bounce houses.

[my mom was there with her camera, so there are plenty of pictures!]

 we also went up to bridal veil falls, in the provo canyon.

matt and ben took the bigger kids on an impromptu hike up the falls.

i couldn't believe how brave those kids were... they hiked really far up.

the idea of going out on my own with TWO kids has always seemed very daunting to me.

i certainly don't know how moms go out with more then 2.

when i see moms (like my sister) grocery shopping with 5 kids i instantly feel overwhelmed!

i can have a productive shopping trip with chet (most of the time) but i definitely prefer when matt and i double-team it.

{you will never ever hear me say i am a supermom}.

so, since holden came home, chet and i have stayed within the 500ft range of holden's monitor whenever matt is at work.

we have hung out in chet's pool, rode his bike around the parking, thrown pop-its on the sidewalk... really simple stuff.

but today i attempted my first outing alone with my 2 boys.

we walked to the grocery store just to get a free cookie (haha i probably shouldn't admit that!) and then we stopped at a park on the way home.

i didn't have any high expectations. i simply wanted to make it back home with none of us in tears. and i did it!

we will definitely be more adventurous now that i know it is possible. it felt really good to get away from our apartment.

richfield is a really cute town to walk around.

chet is in this funny phase where he loves to show off his [not so] neat tricks. it is entertaining.

he shouts, "mommy watch!"

this is an example of a really great chet trick.

right now chet is pretending his bear is a baby.

he has his bear in holden's basinet, has given him a pacifier, and is telling him, 'it's ok baby'.

when did my little chet turn into such a big boy? it kills me.

i loved being the youngest in my family, so there is a big part of me that wishes chet could always be the baby too.

but i guess it is too late for that...

and it sure does look like chet is going to be a sweet big brother.

it's weird how chet seems so much older now that holden is here.

even his diapers look enormous now! and i'm pretty sure they weigh as much as holden at times!

one 'big boy' thing that chet has started doing lately is stalling at bed time.

and he has figured out the trickiest way to do it.

as soon as i start heading for the door, chet says, 'more kiss?'

how am i supposed to say 'no' to more bedtime kisses?!

so i go back for more.

but eventually i have to leave and i feel so guilty shutting the door while chet is begging for more kisses.

what a stinker.

yesterday holden had his first checkup with a doctor since he left the hospital.
he is 5 weeks old now. and he is a whopping 6lbs 10oz and 19.5 inches long.
i can't get over how fast he is growing.
his legs and bum aren't just skin and bones anymore :) they definitely aren't chubby, but we are working on that!
the best news from his checkup was that the doctors think he will be able to get rid of his oxygen and monitor in a couple weeks. yay!!